Swansboro — A Swansboro couple left their home Saturday morning to bring their son to take the SATs and returned to find their house was destroyed in a blaze.

At approximately 9:21 a.m., a call went out for all available units to respond to a structure fire at 604 Broad Street. Fire departments from Swansboro, Hubert, Western Carteretand Bear Creek soon arrived on the scene.

“There was a large amount of fire when we got here,” said Swansboro Fire Department Chief Bob Penrod. “We made the initial tap within three to five minutes and started an offensive operation. Conditions were bad though and I had to pull our people out and switch to a defensive operation.”

John and Linda Stavesky, who rent the home, were not home when the fire started. A planned power outage by Progress Energy had left the street without electricity from 6to 9 a.m., and the Staveskys used this time to bring their son to take his SATs.

Their black lab, however, was trapped inside and killed in the blaze.

“They had a little dog in there, medium sized, and he was scared to come out. The fireman tried so hard to get the dog to come but he wouldn’t. And the dog would cry, and they all heard him cry, and everyone felt so bad because they couldn’t save him,” said Broad Streetresident Jean Scaturro.

Scaturro said it was “amazing” how quickly the fire department responded.

“They just had a hard time getting the fire out. Thank God the lady and her son are okay. I feel so bad about her little dog. The people, they were all out there, all the neighbors, seeing what they could do. But of course there was nothing we could do but stand there.”

John Stavesky is a retired Marine who served 20 years and Linda Stavesky taught on base for 31 years.

“It's devastating. We lost everything, our birth certificates and everything,” said Linda Stavesky while sobbing and sitting in a car outside the home.

There was no damage to surrounding homes but the fire completely consumed the Stavesky’s 1,014 square foot house. According to OnslowCounty’s tax office, the structure was built in 1953 and had an assessed tax value of $123,690.

“It was a total loss,” said Penrod.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Penrod is referring those who would like to make donations to the family to Hem of His Garment in Swansboro.